In the fourth of a series ahead of the British and Irish Lions Tour
three-times tourist Will Greenwood talks to Ieuan Evans, the winger who
scored the winning try of the 1989 series Down Under.

In 1997 I was the last uncapped player to tour with the British and Irish Lions, and that trip to South Africa was a life-changing experience. Aged 24 and being part of that successful campaign, surrounded by all those rugby greats, gave me the confidence I still carry with me today. And, despite winning the World Cup with England and whatever else, I still regard those midweek games as the most fun I have ever had on a rugby field, such was the bond we formed.

When the letter landed on my porch I was living with Austin Healey, my Leicester teammate. I had no inkling that I had made the squad as Austin had stolen the note and hidden it for six hours. He made me drive him to Welford Road for his press conference so I could "experience all the fun with the other Tigers players" before letting on. I wanted to punch him and kiss him at the same time!

In 2009 Leigh Halfpenny, the recent RBS 6Nations player of the championship, was watching Sky Sports when the Lions were read out and burst in to tears when he was name checked, showing the emotional impact the call can have. This summer players might even be notified by Facebook or Twitter, but not long ago it was very different.

Ahead of the 1989 series in Australia – the last time the Lions were series winners Down Under – young Welsh winger Ieuan Evans was playing in sevens tournament in New South Wales when a telegram reached him inviting him on tour. It was overwhelming. “I immediately thought about my heroes, my dad’s heroes – the icons of the 1970s, Phil Bennett, the Invincibles, Fran Cotton’s face in the mud, and so on,” he recalls.

Over that seven-week period the young man from Pontardulais matured in to a world beater; even now he would make most people’s Lions all-time XV. He remembers the initial anxiety. “We were all thrown in together, there was a lot of nervous tension as we eyed each other up, also aware that we were aiming to beat the Wallabies,” he says. “We were all trying to impress, to gel and get on. And we were playing an Australian side who went on to win the World Cup in 1991, so we had to hit our stride early.”

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A cohesive figure was captain Finlay Calder, the hard-as-nails Scottish flanker. “I was young and impressionable then and inspired me,” continues Evans. “He is the finest captain I have played alongside and had the three key qualities a skipper requires – integrity, honesty and loyalty.”

Great teams need great leaders, but they also need talent and when Ian McGeechan handed Evans the famous red jersey with No14 stitched on the back before the first Test it was a seminal moment. “I took the shirt up to my hotel room and I remember looking at it for an age,” the 49-year-old says. “I was aware of the wonderful legacy of the previous Lions tours, and the enormity of the fact that I was judged the best in my position in the home nations. When I was growing up my hero was Gerald Davies – I went to the same school as him, wore the same international jersey and him, and there I was with his No14 Lions top, too. It was that special, I just stared at it.”

After being unbeaten in the lead up to the opener against the Wallabies Evans’s side were dominated 30-12 in Sydney and knew they had to toughen up. Then, in the second Test, impish scrum-half Rob Jones sparked the Battle of Ballymore, a brawl which “rocked Australia and galvanised us,” according to Evans, whose side won the game 19-12. “It united us as a squad.”

In the deciding Test Evans’s opposite man, the mercurial David Campese, attempted a pass on his own try-line which went to ground and the Welsh paceman dotted down for the crucial score in the match which ended 19-18. It was the Lions’ first series win since 1974. “There was a cigarette paper between the sides, and it gave us a great sense of satisfaction to win,” adds Evans, who went on to be a star of the game for the next decade.

“Logic would tell you that the Lions should not work, but the emotional satisfaction you gain from being part of a successful Lions tour has a special place in people’s hearts. It was such a unique experience and certainly changed me as a person. The secret to success on any Lions tour is how you gel as a squad, though. That is the challenge, and the rewards are huge.”